SOE recently announced that Everquest 2 will be making the switch to the "Free to Play" model ... the same that the EQ2X branch has been running for a while now.

Hold on though, before you reach for that "Cancel Subscription" button, you may want to consider the differences in the "Subscription Levels" and what restrictions come with the Free and Silver subscriptions.

 

 

If you want to continue your "regular" game play experience (i.e. unrestricted access to everything) then you'll have to keep paying the $14.99 / mo subscription fee for the "Gold" subscription.  If you opt for this, nothing will change for you.

However, if you want to switch to the lower priced "Silver" plan ($5.00 / mo) or the Free plan you will be losing access to some things in the game.  These restrictions affect many different parts of the game and could result in you losing access to some of your current "stuff".  It's not entirely clear at this point, though, how that would play out if you down-grade your subscription.

Here are a few of the major restrictions to the Free and Silver subscription levels:

• Only have access to 4 races (Human, Erudite, Barbarian and Half-Elf) while the others are "purchasable" as an add-on "Race Pack".
• Only have access to 8 classes (Swashbuckler, Brigand, Wizard, Warlock, Guardian, Berserker, Templar and Inquisitor).
• Cannot equip / use Legendary or Fabled items.
• Free subscribers only get 2 character slots, Silver subscribers get 4.
• Free subscribers only have access to Adept level skills and spells.  Silver subscribers can have up to Expert level.
• Free subscribers get only 2 bag slots and Silver subscribers get 4.
• Free subscribers can have a maximum of 5 gold per character level (450 gold max at lvl 90) and Silver subscribers 20 gold per level (1plat 80 gold at lvl 90).

In addition to those restrictions, there are several other restrictions on things such as use of the in-game mail service and the maximum number of quests you can have in your journal.  If that isn't enough in itself all Free and Silver subscribers will "frequently" see in-game reminders to upgrade to a higher subscription level.  Which, if this is done in the same manner as has been seen in other games, could be annoying to say the least.

You can check out the full list of restrictions for the various subscription levels on the SOE Membership Details chart.  If you want to know more about these changes and what they mean for you head on over to the latest Producer's Letter.